Four groups of international observers and eight East Timorese organizations have already registered with Dili electoral officials to monitor the territory's first free vote on August 30.

Negotiations between East Timor, Australia and oil companies working Timor Gap offshore fields have bogged down over tax issues, with the companies saying they fear Dili may be seeking to impose higher rates than expected.

Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The United Nations said on Wednesday it would reduce its presence in East Timor after the tiny territory gained its independence, expected early in 2002, but had to stay on alert against militias in neighboring West Timor as long as Indonesia failed to disband them.

Mark Dodd – The Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo has indicated support for a Fretilin victory at the election for a Constituent Assembly on August 30.

A joint campaign by seven political parties to hit the hustings in Lospalos Monday was called off because transportation promised by UNTAET failed to turn up.

East Timor's official television and radio station's have begun broadcasting the second round of campaign messages allotted political parties and independent candidates contesting the August 30 constituent assembly elections.

Mark Dodd, Aileu – When it came time to harvest new varieties of sweet potato in an agriculture project in Aileu, an East Timor mountain town, the response was overwhelming – the farmers made off with most of the cuttings.

Avelinho Coelho, the secretary-general of the Timor Socialist Party (PST) said the Constituent Assembly to be formed after the 30 August election must not be structured like the now-dissolved National Council.

Yogyakarta – Some fifty members from East Timorese prointegration groups held a modest ceremony on Tuesday at Yogyakarta's East Timor Students Dormitory to celebrate what they called "the 25th anniversary of East Timor's integration to Indonesia".

Mark Dodd, Viqueque – East Timorese voters have sent their political leaders a strong message to end violence and work towards improving living standards and social services.

Craig Skehan – An official history of Australia's role in East Timor's transition to independence reveals that the Federal Government knew more than it was willing to admit at the time about orchestrated Indonesian military violence.

A Defensive Alexander Downer undoubtedly has his eyes on the history books with the publication of the Government's apologia for its handling of the East Timor crisis. But East Timor in Transition 1998-2000, the official Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade account of the tumultuous period and Australia's role in mediating the crisis, deserves more than cursory dismissal.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Seated in a conference room of the Sheraton Nusa Dua Hotel in Bali, an agitated Indonesian president B.J. Habibie thumped his fist on the table. "We will not have any foreign troops. You have got to understand that. I can't allow foreign troops into Indonesia," he said.

Three days after the start of the official campaign period for August 30 elections, the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) became the first party to publish an advertisement in the East Timorese press.

East Timorese electoral officials Wednesday acknowledged "systematic failures" in the preparation of voters' lists for the August 30 constituent assembly balloting and appealed to the population to carefully check posted preliminary lists.

A team dispatched to verify rumors of planned election violence in East Timor reported Wednesday they had found the territory's "most vulnerable" areas "calm and serene".

Karen Polglaze, Canberra – A new book on Australia's foreign policy approach to East Timor from 1998 to 2000 is highly selective and partisan, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton said today.

East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission has rejected more than 70 potential candidates for the August 30 constituent assembly elections. The final lists of party-backed and independent candidates obtained Tuesday by Lusa indicate that the Commission rejected 27 national and 46 district-level candidates.

Dili – East Timor's defacto parliament, the National Council, was dissolved on Saturday, one day before the start of political campaigning for a new 88-seat Constituent Assembly, taking the territory closer to full independence.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Campaigning for East Timor's first democratic elections began at the weekend, but hopes for a smooth start were marred by a strike and the seizure of a consignment of military uniforms sent from Indonesia.

East Timor's transitional administration saw a flurry of moves today and over the weekend as political activity began to heat up in the half-island territory ahead of the United Nations-sponsored elections next month.

Tony Kevin – Tomorrow, Alexander Downer launches a book on Australia's role in East Timor between 1998 and 2000. One wonders why he should wish to reopen this Pandora's box. Others have recently addressed the issue: writers John Birmingham and John Martinkus, and SBS television's Dateline on May 9.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Campaigning began yesterday for East Timor's first election, but confusion reigns in the minds of voters about what they are voting for and whether it bears any relation to what they want.

Jon Land – The start of the formal election campaign period for East Timor's new Constituent Assembly began on July 15. Some 16 political parties and a number of independent candidates are contesting 88 seats in the election set for August 30, exactly two years after the historic referendum on independence.

East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission Friday determined the order in which the territory's 16 political parties and five independent candidates will appear on the national ballot for August 30 constituent assembly elections.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Two days before the start of East Timor's election campaign for a Constituent Assembly, the territory's United Nations administrator, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, has promised maximum security to ensure a peaceful and trouble-free ballot.

With Wednesday passing as the final deadline for East Timorese to challenge the list of proposed candidates for the upcoming elections, the United Nations transitional administration today said that all political parties and independent candidates had been officially registered.

On July 5, representatives of the East Timor Transitional Cabinet, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the Australian government met in Dili and signed the Timor Sea Arrangement, concluding 10 months of negotiating and wrangling over a new deal to replace the Timor Gap treaty.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Indonesian security forces have arrested 23 hardcore militiamen including the notorious leader of the gang involved in the 1999 massacre in East Timor's Suai cathedral.

Dili – As a UN security team toured refugee camps near Indonesian controlled West Timor's border with East Timor Tuesday, officials of the world body in Dili warned that pro-Jakarta militias were still intimidating refugees.

Jakarta – UN officials in East Timor raised concern Tuesday about the fate of refugees who chose to be repatriated from squalid camps in Indonesia during an Indonesian-run census last month.

Only 666 of the 1,250 East Timorese refugees Indonesian authorities said wanted to return to their homeland last month have been able to do so, UN officials said on Tuesday.

The UN has its own investigation team in East Timor. Some prosecutions have started against minor players. But the power to investigate stops abruptly at the border with West Timor.

East Timor's big hope for independence was signed yesterday – a pact ensuring the soon-to-be nation has economic security through oil and gas revenue. Tough bargaining between Australia and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor produced a deal to share oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Australia and East Timor signed a multi-billion dollar agreement Thursday on dividing royalties from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea despite an unsavoury row between key political leaders.

Dili – East Timor's political parties have agreed to sign a non-violence pact to avoid bloodshed before and after historic elections next month, the United Nations said yesterday.

East Timor will vote on August 30 for a new 88-member governing body that will help draft a constitution and steer the nascent nation to full independence sometime next year.

The new Timor Gap agreement was signed today with the tensions of tough negotiations still apparent.

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, says it is "generous". The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Mr Burke, calls it "extremely generous".

Nigel Wilson – Billions of dollars in Timor Sea investment remain in doubt despite the signing in Dili today of a framework agreement on sharing revenues from oil and gas developments.

Mark Dodd, Saburai village – After leaving the squalor of a refugee camp in West Timor, one of militia leader Victor Lopes's first acts on returning to his mountain village was to register for East Timor's August 30 elections. Whether he will be able to vote is another issue – a day after arriving home, he surrendered himself into UN police custody.

[This is an exclusive extract from "Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's Complicity in the East Timor Tragedy", the second in the Quarterly Essay series published by Black Inc., Melbourne, $9.95.]

John Birmingham – The battalion's nickname was strictly and bitterly ironic: "The Brave Ones". A fighting unit with a proud history of child murder, rape, plunder and riot.

Geoffrey Barker – It will be the ironic fate of independent East Timor to have its key international economic and security relationships with three countries responsible for much of its historic suffering: Portugal, Indonesia and Australia.

Craig Skehan – East Timor will receive $7 billion over 20 years under a historic agreement with Australia on the sharing of oil and gas revenues from fields in the Timor Sea.

"It will make the difference between being mired in poverty and having a chance to provide a better life for the people," East Timor's chief negotiator, Mr Peter Galbraith, said last night.

Vanya Tanaja, Liquica – Amidst the rubble of government offices which the jungle is starting to reclaim stands a flagpole flying, not the Indonesian red and white, but the red flag, the flag of the Socialist Party of Timor.

East Timor's 16 parties and UN transition administration have completed the draft of a "National Unity Pact", which expresses support for the election of independence leader Xanana Gusmao as the territory's first president, a Dili official said Tuesday.

Ten political parties, out of the 16, registered with the Independent Electoral Commission are disappointed with the aid package made available by Untaet.

The first major trial of atrocities committed in East Timor by Indonesian forces and proxy militias got underway in Dili Tuesday, with a three-judge panel hearing preliminary issues behind closed doors.

Wendy Pugh, Melbourne – In an upheaval of Australia's energy market, petroleum and pipeline companies are racing to nail down multi-billion-dollar projects to deliver new supplies of gas across the country's vast distances.

Approximately 93 per cent of the estimated population in East Timor have been registered in advance of upcoming elections, the United Nations mission in the territory announced today.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The United Nations has told the people of East Timor they will be virtually self-governing from September 15 – but that the UN will decide who will form the government.